


Catching up

by harry-shitposting-potter (alfredolover119)



Series: 12 Days of Shipmas 2018 [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: 12 days of shipmas 2018, Christmas, Fluff, M/M, Not Beta Read, Shipmas 2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-02
Updated: 2018-12-02
Packaged: 2019-09-05 10:01:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16808425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alfredolover119/pseuds/harry-shitposting-potter
Summary: Day One of the Twelve Days of ShipmasProfessor Harry Potter is tired of being cooped up in the castle all day, so he heads down to Hogsmeade to change up the scenery. On his way, he meets another professor, and they agree to look at lights together. Harry doesn't know that this 'change of scenery' might lead to an inner awakening of feelings.





	Catching up

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first time I've ever written hp fanfiction, so please bear with me! Enjoy, I suppose, and pray for me as I slam my hands onto the keyboard for the rest of shipmas. Thanks to LittleRose13 (littlerose13writes on tumblr) for the prompt list! Today's prompt was: Christmas Lights in Hogsmeade.

Harry Potter did not hate his job. Quite the contrary, he knew he was an inspiration for plenty of young witches and wizards of future generations. Future generations who doesn’t have to deal with the struggles of having their friends killed in a war caused by a greedy wizard with no appreciation for life. His job also allowed him to see his role-models daily. Role-models who inspired him to do better things in the world. Without McGonagall’s tough, motherly personality and a want for him to always do his best, or Flitwick’s joyful way of passing on knowledge in his sing-song voice, and even Trelawney, who showed such passion for her students, Harry would not have made it this far. He got to see all of these people on a daily-basis, and it was constantly reminding him how lucky he was to be in a place where he was always being encouraged to better himself, even in his adult life. 

However lucky he was, though, it did not change the fact that professors could not go home for Christmas. Harry could have left Hogwarts with the “chosen one” excuse, but that didn’t seem quite fair to the other professors who were trapped here year-round with few breaks. So, in this predicament, he found himself wandering down the path to Hogsmeade. 

Harry was broken out of his thoughts when a certain platinum head was spotted a good 10 meters ahead of him. He looked stunning, the sun reaching through the grey clouds just to kiss the beautiful man walking in front of him. It seemed as if nature herself was trying to point him out to Harry.

“Malfoy!” Harry yelled out, speeding up to try to catch him. Draco turned around to greet him with a calm smile, pausing his stroll until Harry caught up with him. Harry extended his hand, a genuine grin on his face. “It’s good to see you.”

“Potter. Coming to see the Christmas lights, then?” Draco said as they continued to walk.

“Uh- Christmas lights?” Harry responded with a raised brow. Draco gestured to the fast-approaching village, which was covered in an arrangement of shimmering lights.

“Yes, Potter, Christmas lights. Shame, if that’s what you were doing, you could have accompanied me,” said the potions teacher with a sultry look.

Harry’s brain temporarily short-circuited at Draco Malfoy asking him to look at Christmas lights with him. It’s not like they weren’t on good terms. One might even call them friends, even. It was just the deliverance of the invitation. It had caught him off guard- the way Draco’s eyes glimmered in the cool evening air and how each fading ray of light ejecting itself from the cloudy sky seemed to be finding its way solely onto Draco. He was glowing.

“I was- yeah, I’ll come look at lights with you, Malfoy.” 

And so they continued on in comfortable small talk- talking about students, their classes, and other could professors. Within long, however, they had reached Hogsmeade, and it was more beautiful than Harry could have imagined. The vibrance reflected on the dusting of snow that covered the ground and accentuated it, making the lights seem even brighter.

Harry glanced at Draco and was struck silent. Draco’s light hair and complexion absorbed all the light. Rainbows danced across his silver gaze. Harry may have been staring at him for a tenth of a second or an hour, but in that time, Harry truly recognized Draco for his attractiveness.

Harry, even before he knew he was interested in men, knew Draco was attractive. His cutting, yet soft, jawline, his high cheekbones, his beautiful stature, and that gorgeous hair- anybody could recognize that Draco was handsome. In this moment, though, Draco had moved from handsome to truly beautiful.

Draco turned around to face him, now several paces ahead of Harry. “Taking in the view, Potter?” he teased with a smirk. Harry saw now that he had stopped walking to stare at Draco. His face heated up as he tripped over his own feet in a rush to catch up, nearly falling.

“You could say that,” Harry replied after he had found his footing. Draco snickered as Harry pushed his glasses up. 

“What were you actually coming down here to do?” Draco asked Harry once they had set off again. Harry pulled his Gryffindor scarf tighter around him as a light breeze tempted snow further into his coat.

“Oh, well- I didn’t really have a reason for coming down. Just tired of being cooped up in the castle, figured a butterbeer couldn’t hurt,” Harry gestured to the nearby Three Broomsticks that they were about to pass. 

“Could I treat you to a drink, then? I’d hate to ruin your plans of a warm butterbeer,” Draco offered with a quirk of his brow. Harry could not tell whether the pink in Draco’s face came from the bitter cold or the offer itself. Harry definitely knew the reason for his own flushing face.

“Sure, Malfoy,” he replied with a grin. 

In the front windows of the pub, there were lights enchanted to change shapes between pixies, nifflers, hippogriffs, and dragons- all wearing seasonally acceptable Santa hats or reindeer antlers. 

The Three Broomsticks was nearly deserted, save for a small group of sixth and seventh year students at a table in the middle of the room. Harry walked back into the back corner booth while Draco ordered their drinks. Harry noticed how much nicer it looked here since Hannah Abbott had taken over this year. The place was always nice, but it never had felt quite so homey. It was amazing how there was almost no one in the room, compared to what was usually found here, yet Harry still felt comforted. 

Draco joined him within a minute or so, handing him a warm mug filled with sweet, sweet butterbeer. Since moving to Hogwarts and becoming a professor several months earlier, Harry had experienced no lack of treats such as butterbeer and treacle tart, but sitting here having it was just an out-of-world experience. 

Draco sat across from Harry in the booth, and they began chatting.

“So, I know we haven’t talked much since we’ve started working here. Prior to this year, I still thought you were set on becoming an Auror; what happened to that?” Draco asked as he sipped on his firewhiskey(Harry could smell it from across the table). 

“Well,” Harry began, staring down into the syrup-like drink, “I was going to become an Auror- I even went through all the tests and training. I was supposed to start over the summer, but it was clear they were going to give me the ‘chosen one’ treatment, which really wasn’t fair to everyone else.”

Draco shook his head with laughter. “It’s not like you died for the wizarding word or anything to deserve that treatment.” Harry’s lips turned upward and he took another gulp of his drink while Draco continued. 

“No, but seriously, back in school, I disliked you because you weren’t using your influence to get whatever you wanted, unlike myself. I thought you didn’t deserve to have such a title. I was honestly a little bit jealous, how Dumbledore always seemed to worship the ground which you walked on. I’m sorry that I was such a brat,” he finished with a sad look in his eyes. 

Harry glanced down at the table and saw Draco’s hand now tapping on his arm, right about where a dark-mark might be found. Harry moved his own hand to grab Draco’s hand in a friendly gesture, but Draco moved his arms beneath the table before Harry could reach him. Harry, hand now in action, made an exaggerated move to push his glasses up his nose.

Harry sighed and looked Draco in the eye. “You’ve apologized a thousand times for that- I understand, we were different people back then. I don’t think current me would like teenage me very much either,” Harry replied with a forced smile. 

Draco replied by looking Harry in the eye and draining the rest of his glass of firewhiskey. 

“Sorry for making it awkward. Anyway, how did you end up in this job?” Draco asked after he had placed his mug back on the table. 

Harry shook his head to focus back on the original topic. “Oh, yeah, um- Well, a week before I was supposed to sign the official paperwork to become an Auror working for the Ministry, I received an owl from Minerva asking to meet her here at the Three Broomsticks. She explained that she needed a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, and she could think of no one better than me, especially considering the run-in I had with the DA back in my 5th year. Skipping the details, it was a no-brainer to work here instead of at the Ministry.” Draco nodded in understanding.

Harry looked back at the door as the bell rang to signify that the group of students was leaving. “So, Malfoy, how did you end up back here? I don’t much remember what you wanted to make a career out of, but I am relatively sure that teaching wasn’t your dream.”

Draco chuckled and put his hand out to signal that he needed a refill. Hannah gave him a thumbs up from the bar and got to work. “I’m going to need to be at the very least tipsy to tell this story,” he said while running his hand through his short hair. 

“That bad?” Harry asked with what he hoped was an understanding look on his face.

Draco shook his head. “Nah, just a little, er, embarrassing,” he answered with a grimace. Hannah brought both men a refill and chatted with Harry for a bit until Neville walked in. 

Once Hannah was gone, Harry noticed that Draco had already emptied his cup. “Ready, now?” Harry asked calmly.

Draco took a deep breath. “Well, going back to the end of the war, while I was still on house-arrest, I couldn’t, you know, leave the house. I started making potions for different causes. Wolfsbane potion for the werewolves who couldn’t afford to have it made or didn’t know what to do about their, ah, furry problem. Once I got into working for the minorities, I started making potions that would supplement vampires so they wouldn’t have to survive off of people,” Draco said as he loosened his collar, the cold finally wearing off.

“Draco, that’s amazing! But, if that was going so well, why did you stop?” Harry asked like an impatient toddler.

“Patience, Potter,” Draco said with a smirk. “All was going well. I just may have left out a slight detail… I wasn’t using my own name when I was sending those potions out. I used a name that people would trust- not a Death Eater’s name, like my own.”   
  


“Ex-Death Eater,” Harry corrected.

“Whatever, doesn’t make a difference when you’re trying to get your products out in the world. After a while, however, I was caught. Turns out the name I was using was actually an important muggle politician. So people were trying to have me imprisoned or killed for impersonating someone. However, McGonagall got word of it, being the important witch she is, and offered to get me out of trouble with everyone if I would come and work for her this year, maybe get my name built up again.”

Harry smiled despite himself. McGonagall was always outdoing herself, being one of the best people he had ever met. “That’s very McGonagall of her. I still don’t understand how that would be embarrassing, though.”

Draco lied his head down on the table and placed his hands on either side of him. “It’s not really, it’s more of a pride issue I had. Can you imagine having to have Snape bail you out of something that you did? Illegally? For no reason other than the fact that you were bored?” Draco sighed. Harry reached his hand out again, this time successfully grabbing Draco’s hand.

Draco lifted his head, smiling, and squeezed Harry’s hand. 

“So, does this mean anything?” Draco asked, meeting Harry’s gaze. Pink colored both their faces.

“Yeah, actually. It means I’d like to get to know you better and maybe do this again,” Harry said, sliding out of the booth, coming to stand at the end. Draco moved so their hands wouldn’t separate. 

“You want to look at Christmas lights with a Death Eater again?”

“Ex-Death Eater,” Harry corrected 

“Whatever, Harry,” Draco said with a grin, sliding out of the booth as well. 

And so the two men walked up to the bar, hand-in-hand, to pay their tab. When they approached Hannah, she giggled and pointed to the ceiling above their heads.

Mistletoe. 

**Author's Note:**

> Leave a comment and kudos to let me know you enjoyed this attempt at a one-shot, haha.  
> Follow me on tumblr: harryfkingpotter


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